3 ms·
Personal experience from travel in Iceland, Peru, UK (mostly Scotland), and Italy. Obviously generalizations and anecdotes, so take with a grain of salt. Ameri
by alistairSH 3y ago
Personal experience from travel in Iceland, Peru, UK (mostly Scotland), and Italy. Obviously generalizations and anecdotes, so take with a grain of salt.
Americans often stand out. Look more "touristy" - wearing shorts, goofy bags, unstylish footwear, etc. Most likely to ask "what do you do?" (for a living). Not rude, but can be more boisterous/social than some others.
Chinese - tend to travel in large tour groups. Frequently dressed poorly for conditions (Jimmy Choo shoes while touring Icelandic waterfalls). Disembark from buses and race to get a selfie before the rest of the crowd. Not purposefully rude, but the sheer number/concentration of them makes them stand out.
Europeans are generally don't stand out. Usually dress the least obviously touristy. Usually happy to make chit-chat, but less likely to initiate than US-Americans.
And stupid people come from all backgrounds. While in Iceland, there was an Asian fellow who insisted on sticking his hand into the geysers, despite warning signs in ~8 languages. Same trip, some German teens ran out onto an icy lake, despite signs warning of falling through the ice. And at the big waterfalls, there were people from all races/nationalities jumping fences to get better shots for their Insta feeds.
My personal pet peeve is people who litter or otherwise ruin natural beauty. And again, they come in all shapes, sizes, colors, creeds, etc.
- kelnos 3y ago> Americans often stand out. Look more "touristy" - wearing shorts, goofy bags, unstylish footwear, etc. Interesting. When I travel, I usually dress the same out in public as I do at home (well, modified for the local weather, anyway). Usually that means jeans, t-shirt, and possibly a hoodie and/or jacket if the weather is cooler, with fairly plain sneakers or perhaps a nicer shoe, depending on how much walking I expect to be doing. I tend to not carry a bag with me unless I'm going to or from an airport or train station. If I do need a bag, it'll usually be a backpack or shoulder bag, something I would use at home for a similar purpose. I do expect that there are a lot of us who inexplicably dress differently when traveling, but I wonder if your assessment of American tourist dress as "goofy" or "unstylish" is just that the styles that are popular over here aren't popular where you live and where you've traveled and seen American tourists. I really don't get why some people drastically change their wardrobe when traveling, though.
- alistairSH 3y agoI’m American, from DC metro. Shorts are a big one - far more popular in the US than abroad. Particularly cargo shorts, which are goofy no matter who you are. ;)